Selected Other Nursing Resources

Here are some additional resources that nurses may find useful for their competency maintenance and professional development.

Anxiety and Depression

The Australian National University (ANU) has a couple of free, self-help websites designed to manage anxiety and depression. Although these sites are designed more for consumer use, they nevertheless can provide useful information and strategies for the nurse practitioner.

Cancer

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that occurs in the thin layer of cells lining the body's internal organs, known as the mesothelium. An individual may develop mesothelioma if he or she is exposed to asbestos in the workplace or at home. For more information about mesothelioma types, causes and treatments visit the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance website.

Mesothelioma cancer is a cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma generally affects older adults because of its long latency period of 20-50 years. Mesothelioma Guide offers information to patients and their families about the treatment and prognosis outlooks for mesothelioma.

Food and Nutrition

Health Canada's current information on food and nutrition including the Food Guide and also links to publications, resources for education and for client / patient handouts.

Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) from the National Agricultural Library for USDA, provides a directory to credible, accurate, and practical resources for nutrition and health professionals, educators and government personnel.

The American Dietetic Association provides timely and objective food and nutrition information for consumers, health professionals and ADA members. The website has disease-specific information and evaluation, printable patient handouts, calculators that compute BMI/weight range, customization tools and much more.

Hypertension

The Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP) is an innovative knowledge translation program designed to reduce the disease burden of the leading risk for death in Canada. CHEP provides practical, trustworthy, up-to-date knowledge to health care professionals.

The American Society of Hypertension, Inc. (ASH) is the largest US professional organization of scientific investigators and health care professionals committed to eliminating hypertension and its consequences. The Society serves as a scientific forum that bridges current hypertension research with effective clinical treatment strategies for patients.

Infection Prevention and Control

The Community and Hospital Infection Control Association (CHICA - Canada) is a national, multi-disciplinary, voluntary association of Infection Control Professionals (ICPs) dedicated to the health of Canadians by promoting excellence in the practice of infection prevention and control. The CHICA website has many useful resources and links on this topic.

Safe Medication Practices

The Institute of Safe Medication Practices – www.ismp.org – has a number of excellent resources on safe medication practices. These include:

High Alert Medications List – High-alert medications are drugs that bear a heightened risk of causing significant patient harm when they are used in error.

Confused Drug Name List – This list contains look-alike and sound-alike drugs that have been involved in medication errors.

Error-Prone Abbreviations List – These are abbreviations, symbols and dose designations that have been reported to be frequently misinterpreted and involved in harmful medication errors.

The electronic Medicines Compendium (eMC) contains up to date, easily accessible information about medicines licensed for use in the UK. The eMC has more than 7,000 documents, all of which have been checked and approved by either the UK or European government agencies which license medicines.